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My throat tightened, heat flaring in my cheeks as the noise of the party seemed to dim around us. For a moment, it was just his hand on mine, his gaze like fire, and the dangerous truth in his words pressing against me like a weight I couldn’t shake.

The chant started somewhere near the dance floor, voices rising above the music, spilling like champagne bubbles into the air.

“Ten… Nine… Eight…”

Around us, the energy shifted – couples pressing closer, friends laughing and clinking glasses. The entire penthouse pulsed with the countdown, but Matteo and I… we didn’t move.

It felt like we were suspended in a separate pocket of time, the noise around us muffled, the crowd blurred. His hand was still around mine, warm, grounding, impossible to ignore.

“Seven… Six…”

I forced my eyes to cool. But my thoughts betrayed me, unspooling in dangerous directions.

What would it be like – to kiss him at midnight?To feel those smooth, maddening lips on mine, just once?

“Three… Two…”

Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I quickly turned my face away, pretending to study the fireworks already beginning to spark faintly in the distance.

“One… Happy New Year!”

The room erupted in cheers, glasses clashing. Everywhere I looked, people were kissing, hugging, pulling each other close. And still, Matteo didn’t let go of me.

I turned back just as he leaned in.

His lips brushed my cheekbone, close to my temple, soft as a feather, the faintest ghost of a kiss that somehow seared hotter than fire. My breath caught, and when he pulled back – it was only just. His face hovered near mine, the warm timbre of his breath threading into the air between us.

Before I could stop myself, I turned fully toward him.

And suddenly, we were inches apart.

His eyes locked with mine, molten honey in the glow of crystal chandeliers, before they dipped – slow, deliberate – down to my lips. I felt my own gaze betray me, sliding tothe curve of his mouth, the distance between us a live wire begging to be crossed.

We leaned in – closer, closer – my heart thundering in my chest like it wanted to leap into his hands. And then –

Pop!

A champagne cork exploded somewhere in the room, followed by a roar of laughter and applause. The sound snapped me back, like ice water over fire.

I blinked, stumbled a half step back, my pulse wild and breath unsteady.

Matteo’s smirk was subtle, knowing, his eyes still lingering on me like he could read every thought I was trying desperately to bury.

Before I embarrassed myself further, I walked away, finding the safety of my oblivious friends.

I managed to outrun Matteo for the rest of the party. When I was about to say my goodbye’s, however, my eyes met his again, from across the party. And then he was making his way toward me through the crowd.

So, like a criminal on the run, I turned around and left the party without saying goodbye or thanking Maria and Zach for having me.

The minute I made it downstairs, I was met with both of my brothers. Who let me know we were crushing Trev and Nat’s getaway wedding.

Because God forbid anyone in this group tried to get a little privacy.

Chapter 12

Present

New Jersey